Line up announced for
CeltFest 2010 on Vancouver Island
NANAIMO – This year marks the tenth anniversary of Vancouver Island’s annual Celtic Performing Arts School and Festival – CeltFest.
And once again, Celt-hearted from near and far are invited to participate in a special week of instruction and entertainment featuring some of the greatest Celtic and Gaelic musicians and dancers from around the world.
Principal René Cusson says, “This is a great time to share and enjoy Celtic culture while making new and renewing old friendships and continuing to grow Celtic traditions.”
The school offers world-class instruction in Highland piping, pipe band drumming, fiddling, guitar, bodhran, penny whistle and song. There will also be Highland and Irish dance, Scottish country dance, Cape Breton step-dancing, and classes in the social dances of Scotland and Ireland for everyone wishing to join in the fun.
CeltFest Director Carolyn Cusson is excited about the 10th anniversary events, “A welcome enhancement to the program will be Scottish country dance.
“There will also be a ramped-up offering of song in both English and Gaelic, in the Scots, Irish, Welsh, and Canadian oral traditions. We will even hold a milling frolic—open to the public—in the ancient Highland tradition, as espoused by Cape Bretoners, led by Canada’s Mary Jane Lamond.”
The event is hosted, once again, at Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo in a beautifully landscaped and terraced setting overlooking the Georgia Strait. Classes are offered for all ages and levels of experience in the university’s state-of-the-art facilities.
This year again, the school offers package rates on overnight accommodations with full kitchens, optional meals prepared by the Culinary Institute of Vancouver Island or day programs only.
The week-long intensive program also offers a choice of electives for full-time participants and choices of sessions and shorter evening programs. Day students are also welcome.
Festival organizers, under the direction of Carolyn Cusson, are delighted to welcome such instructors and performers as Rose Fearon (Ontario) and Owen Barrington (USA) leading Irish dance. Gaelic and Celtic song will be taught by Mairi Campbell (Scotland), Eileen McGann (Canada) and Mary Jane Lamond (Cape Breton).
Champion Highland piper, Bob Worrall of Toronto, BBC Scots Song Award winning fiddler/songster Mairi Campbell (Scotland) and Wendy MacIsaac (Cape Breton) and renowned pipers Robert Worrall, Ken Eller, Alan Walters, Jamie Troy, and John Fisher (all from Canada) are a few more of the faculty providing a wee taste of the amazing Celtic talent on hand.
This year’s exciting performance events will include “Celtic Women – Mairi Campbell, Eileen McGann and Wendy Humphries Tebbutt” at Malaspina Theatre and “Mary Jane Lamond in Concert” at the same venue the next evening.
The ever-popular “Wacky Jig & Hornpipe Night” returns, as does the gala “Sunset & Stars Finale” in Nanaimo’s Port Theatre. CeltFestival Club Ceilidhs at VIU will follow each night’s performances.
Early-bird rates apply to summer school registration until May 15. Visit www.celtfest.ca for details and registration or phone 1-866-301-2358 for more information.
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